20200327

1. Evictions in Durban on the First Day of the National
Shutdown
On the first day of the national Covid-19 lockdown the
eThekwini municipality has evicted residents from the
Ekuphumeleleni settlement near Shallcross in Ward 17. Today
at about 14pm nine motor vehicles labelled Calvin Security
came to the Ekuphumeleleni settlement, which was first
established as a land occupation in October 2019, to tear down
people's homes. No Court Order was produced and therefore
the evictions were illegal and criminal. They were also in
violation of the rules governing the national state of disaster.
Eight shacks were torn down while 17 others were marked with
an "X" and “ABM” indicating that Calvin Security are planning to
come back to evict again. The building materials for the eight
shacks that were destroyed were pulverised and left in small
pieces. A number of people have been left with injuries.
The eThekwini municipality has defied the national call for
social-distancing during the state of disaster issued by
President Cyril Ramaphosa. They have also gone against the
Minister of Justice who has called for a moratorium on all
evictions. They have also gone against the call by the UN
Special Rapporteur on Housing to ban evictions worldwide
during this crisis.
To our knowledge the eThekwini municipality has become the
first state organ to break the law and all the precautionary
measures that the President of the country has directed all of

2. us to obey. The eThekwini Municipality is a gangster
municipality that has no regard for the law and consistently
engages in violent attacks against impoverished people.
Last week similar unlawful evictions were carried out by
eThekwini municipality in a number of settlements and people
were injured. On Sunday Calvin Security were demolishing in
Ekuphumeleleni. One of our members was hospitalised after
this eviction when a Calvin Security employee hit him on the
forehead with a spade.
The government tells us that we must all stay inside our homes
during this health crisis and yet, at the same time, they are
demolishing the homes of impoverished people. This makes no
sense.
It is not possible for us to trust a municipality that destroys our
homes during a crisis like this. We are left with no choice but to
continue to resist oppression during this crisis. We will organise
our resistance in the safest possible way, but we will resist. We
are currently experimenting with holding meetings online via
cellphone apps, and have already consulted our lawyers. Of
course, people whose homes have been destroyed now have
no other choice other than to reoccupy and to rebuild.
Today a taxi driver who had loaded 16 people in his taxi was
arrested. A butchery owner was also arrested for raising prices
during the crisis. We call on the national government to act
decisively against the recklessness and cruelty of the
eThekwini Municipality. If the national government is serious

3. about what they have said they must also arrest the municipal
officials who gave the order for this eviction, and the head of
Calvin Security.